Today, I picked and image I shot a few weeks ago while driving back to Vancouver from Seattle.

The weather that day had been miserable. Non-stop heavy rain made driving at highway speeds rather tiring, so I pulled off the road to stop and have some lunch. The rain suddenly stopped as I was driving up to this scene. Knowing that I will most likely only have a few minutes before the next down-pour would begin, I parked and setup my camera as quick as I could.

Exposure on this image was 181 seconds, and I really like the effect the long exposure had on the tree and its moving branches. It was a windy day, so the branches moved especially the ones furthest away from the trunk. I took 3 shots, before I thought to ask my wife to sit on the piece of driftwood washed up on the beach. This gave a needed element of tension in the composition – and introduced a ‘human element’ that added visual and emotional interest. Others may also call it the ‘counterpoint’ (my Friend Arthur Meyerson speaks about this concept very often).

The image was converted to BW from RAW using Lightroom 3. It was shot on my trusty Nikon D3.

This is another great example of how long exposures can yield very interesting images, as you explore the relationship between moving and non-moving elements within your composition. It’s a matter of delicate balance. If the whole tree had been moving, or if nothing had moved due to absence of wind, in both incidences the resulting image would have been far less successful.

This image always reminds me of the fact that any day can yield a good photograph. Any day. Even if you last expect it. Give it a try sometime.